Oscars: Every Best Picture Winner Ever Ranked From Worst To Best

43. All The King's Men (1949)

Robert Rossen's thoroughly engrossing political noir may come across as more than a little heavy-handed to modern eyes, but its musings on the corrupting influence of power remain as insightful and on-point as they were seven decades ago.

Broderick Crawford won an Oscar for his sublime performance as Willie Stark, a well-intentioned man who loses his soul to the allure of the political sausage factory, and while it might trade in melodrama a little too eagerly, the movie's message nevertheless hits home with sledgehammer impact.

Don't expect to be surprised or taught anything you don't already know, but if you can even halfway embrace the context of its release, it holds up rather well indeed.